(a) Petition. - A person may petition an agency to
adopt a rule by submitting to the agency a written rule-making petition
requesting the adoption. A person may submit written comments with a rule-making
petition. If a rule-making petition requests the agency to create or amend a
rule, the person must submit the proposed text of the requested rule change and
a statement of the effect of the requested rule change. Each agency must
establish by rule the procedure for submitting a rule-making petition to it and
the procedure the agency follows in considering a rule-making petition. An
agency receiving a rule-making petition shall, within three business days of
receipt of the petition, send the proposed text of the requested rule change
and the statement of the effect of the requested rule change to the Office of
Administrative Hearings. The Office of Administrative Hearings shall, within
three business days of receipt of the proposed text of the requested rule change
and the statement of the effect of the requested rule change, distribute the
information via its mailing list and publish the information on its Web site.

(b) Time. - An agency must grant or deny a rule-making
petition submitted to it within 30 days after the date the rule-making petition
is submitted, unless the agency is a board or commission. If the agency is a
board or commission, it must grant or deny a rule-making petition within 120
days after the date the rule-making petition is submitted.

(c) Action. - If an agency denies a rule-making
petition, it must send the person who submitted the petition a written
statement of the reasons for denying the petition. If an agency grants a rule-making
petition, it must inform the person who submitted the rule-making petition of
its decision and must initiate rule-making proceedings. When an agency grants a
rule-making petition, the notice of text it publishes in the North Carolina
Register may state that the agency is initiating rule making as the result of a
rule-making petition and state the name of the person who submitted the rule-making
petition. If the rule-making petition requested the creation or amendment of a
rule, the notice of text the agency publishes may set out the text of the
requested rule change submitted with the rule-making petition and state whether
the agency endorses the proposed text.

(d) Review. - Denial of a rule-making petition is a
final agency decision and is subject to judicial review under Article 4 of this
Chapter. Failure of an agency to grant or deny a rule-making petition within
the time limits set in subsection (b) is a denial of the rule-making petition.